December 2015 Prayer Letter

Ramos Newsletter – December 2015

 ^“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11 KJV

Merry Christmas from the Dominican Republic!

There is a very special feeling to this time of the year.  As we remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ we are so thankful to God for sending his Son to the earth to be our Savior.  This truly is a time of great joy for all God’s people.  We are so thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Dominican Republic, in the United States, and all around the world.  Jesus came to earth to save us and that is truly something to be celebrated.

Immigration Process

In our last update, I explained that one of the reasons for our visit this summer was because I needed to complete some paperwork and apply for a visa for my residency process here in the Dominican Republic.  After we came back from the states, we attempted to complete the immigration process, but they rejected my paperwork and I was required to return to the United States again in October in order to apply for additional documents.  This time, Eddy stayed behind in the DR.  After a very long process with many complications, we are so thankful to be able to tell you that after my second trip to the states, the Dominican government did finally accept my paperwork.  We are now just waiting for them to finish processing, while we decide what the next step will be.  We appreciate your prayers in this area and are so happy that they have been answered.

 Ministry Work

Since this summer, we have continued to serve God here in the Dominican Republic.  We received and hosted two more teams.  The first was The Gathering Team from Pennsylvania.  They came down with 10 people for ten days in August.  We then had a small team of college students from Austin come down for ten days as well.  We really enjoyed hosting both of these teams and serving God with them here in the DR. 

 

At the church Eddy and I have been serving as directors of children’s church.  Many of the children in our program come on a bus without their parents to church each week from a neighborhood called Monte Adentro.  On Saturdays, Eddy has continued to evangelize and lead Bible Study in that same neighborhood in an attempt to reach the adults of the area as well, especially the parents of the children that come to our church.   We are currently practicing and preparing for a small Christmas program that the children will participate on December 20.  The children will be inviting their parents and families to church that Sunday.  We hope that this will help open the door to more adults and parents attending our church weekly as well.

Working with Sharing the Vision has also opened the door for us to build relationships with others serving here in the Dominican Republic as well.  In the last newsletter, I spoke about the different ministries that we partner with and how much we enjoy building those relationships.  In addition to that, we have also started building relationships with other missionaries serving nearby as well.  One way we have done that is that we have recently been accepted into a missionary co-op called Agape Flights.  The primary reason for this, is that by being part of this co-op, we now have an address in Florida where we can receive mail and packages. Our mail is then flown from Florida to the Dominican Republic on a missionary plane.  Up until this point, we have only been able to receive things from the states if they were brought down by a team in a suitcase, so this is very exciting for us.  Additionally, being a part of this co-op has allowed us to get to know and form relationships with other missionaries serving here in the country.  In case you would like to add us to your Christmas card list or send us other mail, our address is:

 

Eddy and Carrie Ramos, STI 28509
c/o Agape Flights
100 Airport Avenue
Venice, FL 34285

Ministry Preparation

Eddy has been attending his theology classes regularly since August.  He goes to school every Friday evening from 6 to 10, which allows him to go to school and work his complete work with the ministry as well.  He has been unable to find an English class that doesn’t conflict with our church responsibilities, but he has continued to work on his English daily and has made a lot of progress in that area.  In November, both of us helped a fellow missionary with their team that was visiting by serving as translators.  Eddy translated their English to Spanish very well and with little difficulty, he was even asked to translate during the church service and did very well.  We are very encouraged to see how God has been working and helping Eddy in his studies and with his English.

Thank you

Thank you for taking the time to read our update, for your interest in our mission work, and for your prayers and support.  We are truly grateful for each and every one of you and pray for you and your families as well.  We know that we have an amazing group of supporters in the states interceding for us in prayer and supporting us with words of encouragement and we thank God for you all.  Specifically, we would like to ask for your prayers for wisdom as we continue to discern God’s calling in our lives.  We would also like to ask for your prayers that God may provide for our physical needs as well.  This year we had several unexpected costs including my surgery this summer, the purchase of a vehicle, and my immigration process (with the additional trips to the states.)  We are now attempting to “catch up” with our finances and monthly needs and would appreciate your prayers in that area as well.

Looking Forward

We have a team arriving on Christmas night that will be with us until January 3.  From there we will beginning “team season” so there will be a lot going on here for the next several months.  We plan to continue sending updates and newsletters as often as possible.  Additionally, I will try to update my blog pretty regularly with “Glimpses into our Life”. The website is  www.pathwaytojesus-carrie.blogspot.com.  Please feel free to check it out and comment or ask questions. 

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14 KJV                                                                                                                                               

Blessings,

                                                                                                Eddy and Carrie Ramos

Glimpse into our Life - Dominican Christmas Trees

Celebrating Christmas in the Dominican Republic is quite different than celebrating in the United States.  The traditions are much different.  For example, this morning we were kept awake from about 4 am until about 6 am by a group of "mananitas" walking around our neighborhood playing drums and singing and celebrating the season. 

This will be my fourth Christmas spent in the Dominican Republic and each year I notice new differences in the way we celebrate.  This year I noticed several unique Christmas trees up around the country.  Finally, last week, I started taking pictures when I spotted them.  Here are a few of the pictures.  Can you tell what they are made out of?

All of these Christmas trees are made out of plastic bottles.  They even put lights in them so that at night they are lit up.  I have seen these all over the country in different neighborhoods, and I always think that they look really cool.  Has anyone seen anything like this in the United States?

Glimpse into our Life - More Children's Church

Hi everyone.  So much has been going on with us over the last several months, but for today, I want to talk to you a little bit more about children's church.  We have spent a lot of time over the last couple of months working on our children's ministry; from organizing our supplies, to moving to our new children's church room, to finding Spanish curriculum and organizing our teacher schedule.

Sometimes being a director of children's ministry looks like sitting with children and talking about Jesus, and sometimes it looks like spending an hour sharpening colored pencils.  Although all of our responsibilites are varied, we are thankful for the opportunity to serve the kids of our church in whatever way that they need.

Over the last month, we have been focused on Christmas with the children.  The children have been invited to participate with the prasie and worship team for our Christmas service this coming Sunday.  They have been practicing their songs and I have been teaching them the signs for a couple of the songs and they are so excited!  Most of the children in the program come to church without their parents, so for the last two weeks they have been coloring and bringing home invitations to give to their parents inviting them to come to church and see them participate in the worship service.  On our weekly visit to their neighborhood on Saturday, Eddy and I will be visiting their homes and inviting their families personally as well.  We appreciate your prayers as we attempt to reach the families of these children that are so dear to us.

The children coloring the invitations to give to their families.

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I plan on taking lots of pictures and some video of the children on Sunday and hope to post of video on here next week for you all to see.  So please check back to see our beautiful children celebrating the birth of Jesus.